Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury will offer Game Show Network’s People Puzzler, hosted by Leah Remini, to TV stations for a fall 2023 debut, the company said Thursday.
Debmar-Mercury is distributing 325 episodes of the game show that combines pop culture with fun facts as a back-to-back Monday-Friday strip. People Puzzler will be sold on an all-barter basis, with the syndicator splitting national advertising time with stations.
People Puzzler, which is based on the pop culture-themed crossword puzzles featured in People Magazine, returned for a third season in August. In the show, three contestants are pitted against each other in a three-round battle of pop-culture prowess. The contestant with the most points at the end of the three rounds then moves to the final “Fast Puzzle Bonus Round,” where they play to win a cash prize.
People Puzzler is produced by Game Show Enterprises, Start Entertainment and People’s parent company, Dotdash Meredith.
“The biggest ingredients needed for success in television today are high brand awareness and proven talent. With People and Leah Remini, whose audience favorability ratings are through the roof, we have an abundance of both,” Debmar-Mercury Co-Presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein said in a statement. “We believe People’s Puzzler’s proven ad-friendly format, strong household and adult 25-54 demo performance will attract an entirely new audience to broadcast, while giving stations a tested alternative to pair with originals in this dominant syndication programming genre.”
People Puzzler joins Allen Media Group’s Equal Justice with Judge Eboni K. Williams in the syndication class of 2023, which is expected to be otherwise light on new offerings.
People Puzzler is a production of Game Show Enterprises. Rane Laymance executive produces along with Scott St. John and Neal Konstantini for Start Entertainment; Rachel Feinberg for Dotdash Meredith and Remini.
